~~~~Introduction to Speculative Fiction~~~~
The speculative genre creates and expresses inspired imaginings of humanity's future, aimed to shape the public's understanding of existing issues and concerns.
Though considered an independent genre, spec-fic consists of multiple sub-genres combined; most commonly of which are fantasy, historical, science fiction and horror. Spec-fic distinguishes itself from other genres by the setting in a supernatural or foreseen or imagined time, place, event, etc. For example, the use of advanced technology in the far future is recognised as speculative fiction.
~~~~Concept~~~~
The concept I have chosen for this task is Asphyxiation or in short, Asphyxia.
The dictionary definition for this term is "a condition arising when the body is deprived of oxygen, causing unconsciousness or death; suffocation".
I view the far future to be a distortedly oppressive and suffocating society heavily influenced by 3 statuses – successful, failed or 'the others'. The role of the concept within my foresight describes the toxic environment brimming with expectations, discrimination, and corruption.
I was inspired by this idea from an anonymous poem named 'Expectations' that criticizes the educational system for its 'labelling' of different people using one system and criteria, and how family, friends, social media, etc. pressure us to achieve 'success'. The poem appealed to me, since its target audience was the young generation, and motivated me to question the structure of our society, and how it is related to the stereotypical 'success'. Observing the real-world social structure, I realised people are driven by successful role-models, and fear becoming the unsuccessful examples. I speculated that, in my speculative fiction narrative, this will be the enforced sole structure of the society.
The young generation is influenced by monochrome stereotypes – successful figures (e.g.: a role-model diligent corporate worker providing for his family) and unsuccessful figures (e.g.: a homeless jobless drug addict). As the young generation grows up, the individual is forcefully driven to one of the two black-and-white statuses to become the role-models for the next generation. In this diagram, the successful are praised; and the failed are oppressed and asphyxiated.
However, the two figures are not the only influences on the young generation. A third unspoken model is named 'the others'. This category consists of successful individuals who obtained 'success' by a peculiar method, often rejected by the society. The image of 'the others' is inspired by famous figures such as Bill gates and Steve Jobs who were extremely successful though having dropped out of their tertiary education. This category of people is inconvenient to the setting of the narrative because they motivate the young generation to take risky gambles (many of them potentially uncalculated), veering them off closer to the negative path. But when an individual of the young generation becomes part of 'the others', they are uncredited for their success, being that in the eyes of everyone else the individual's success was purely luck. Eventually, 'the other' perishes from the society out of asphyxiation.
The concept Asphyxia strongly questions what it means to be human. Humans define themselves as sophisticated and social intelligent beings with a firm sense of self-consciousness distinguished from mindless animals. The narrative illustrates the idealistic civilised human society; but distorts the image to challenge the human nature in order to subvert our conventional interpretation of 'human'.
~~~~Setting~~~~
The setting for the speculative fiction narrative is a contemporary unnamed major city, one among many. The year is 4169 CE. In this fictional world, major issues such as war and global warming (based on today's rising concerns) have all been resolved by the year 2500 CE. Since that date, humans have made little to no political, environmental, social, economic progress, nor recession. Despite the distant date, the technology of the time is only slightly more advanced than our current— as the resolution of major problems and the social fear of difference, has suppressed innovation.
~~~~Characters~~~~
To strengthen the emotional bond between the reader and characters within the context of a short story, the number of characters is limited to 3 main and 1 side.
1. Mr Smith – this character is the positive role-model among the two statuses. Being that the surname 'Smith' is the most common English name in the world, this character is more generalised. His personality is funny, smart and caring. Others view him as virtually perfect and respectable. Living the American Dream, he has a wife, 2 intelligent children, a large apartment in the CBD of the city and a reliable job. The role of this character is to set an individual's standard for the society. The reader is not supposed to have an emotional bond with Mr Smith since he is unrealistically cliched.
2. Samantha – this character is the negative role-model among the two stereotypes. She is intelligent and hard-working but is rejected by the society because of her 'disability' – being lesbian. This disadvantages her and brings her unfortunate situation. Samantha is formed by the concerns within the narrative's target audience (young adults) of the fear of rejection because of being not normal. Because of this, the readers could potentially form an emotional bond with this character.
1. R – this character is an exclusionary 'other'. The 'R' in his/her name stands for 'Revolution' being that this mystery character created an anonymous revolutionary thesis called Asphyxia. This thesis is often briefly mentioned in the story. The character's identity is disguised as a 'successful one' to protect himself from an unspecified effect mentioned in his/her work. The effect is: people within the society (successful, failed, and even the 'others') are prone to the asphyxia effect where they all influence each other to maintain the social structure – successful are praised, failed are shamed, 'others' are dishonoured. The character is cunning, deceptive and perceptive. The role of this character is to implicitly reveal the true nature of the society. Emotional bonding with R is unlikely because of the vagueness of the character.
2. The unnamed show host – the ordinary humorous and cheerful host. Unlikely to bond with because he is just a background character.
~~~~Plot~~~~
Textual Type: Narrative Play Script
Textual Format: Traditional Short Story hybrid with Theatre Script
Justification for textual format: The dystopian setting can be perceived as a 'tragedy', which is a genre of theatre. A theatre script also creates the dramatic mood which is effective for emphasising stereotypical characters. Another reason is the eerily controlling atmosphere a script creates being that it has been planned out. The last act breaks the format to symbolise defiance.
1. Introduction/ Act 1:
[second person, for mood] A hologram is projected into the air of a standard modern living room. An educational program targeted at younger children appears introducing Mr Smith. His positive traits and successes are listed. The unnamed host of the show interview Mr Smith on how he achieved success. The host regularly addresses the audience and advises to take notes or to crack a joke.
This scene implicitly introduces the setting of the narrative.
2. Complication/ Act 2:
[first person, for depth] Samantha melodramatically tells her story.
3. Resolution / Final act:
[third person, for detail] R walks against a busy yet uniform CBD sidewalk (symbolises difference). Passer-by's often steal strange glances at the person before walking around (symbolises unwantedness). He/she enters a building and into the futuristic elevator. The news mentioning a recent controversial thesis named Asphyxia is played in the elevator. The elevator rises above the crowd (symbolises defiance) and shoots upwards. The news mentioning a recent controversial thesis named Asphyxia is played in the elevator, but the name of the thesis is partially cut off when R exits the elevator. He/she stands on the rooftop of a skyscraper alone and makes small remarks about the crowd below. The act ends with the rhetorical question, "Death by asphyxiation is truly a tragedy, don't you think so?" The addressing of the reader shows this character is aware of the forth wall.
